Samsung has taken yet another bite out of Apple's control of the smartphone market. The company's Galaxy SIII smarthphone has officially stolen the iPhone 4S's crown, and is now the bestselling smartphone in the world, according to new research by Strategy Analytics.

Samsung's Galaxy S III overtook Apple's iPhone 4S to become the world's bestselling smartphone model for the third quarter (July through September) of 2012. The Galaxy S III shipped 18 million units worldwide, compared with 16.2 million for the iPhone 4S. That's 11 percent of all smartphones shipped on the planet, according to Strategy Analytics.

Released in May 2012, the Android-based Galaxy S III boasts a bigger 4.8-inch touch-screen, and longer battery life than the iPhone 4S, along with more megapixels in its camera, and the ability to run on 4G cellular networks. Some tech sites have rated it the best smartphone available.

However, the Galaxy SIII isn't likely to dominate for long. As Strategy Analytics notes, iPhone 4S sales waned in the third quarter as consumers waited for the iPhone 5, which went on sale Sept. 21.

Apple sold 5 million iPhone 5s in the device's first weekend alone, and is expected to sell several millions more during this holiday shopping season.

Samsung announced the company had huge sales expectations for the Galaxy SIII back in September. On Sept. 15 Samsung made a statement that it expected sales of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphone to exceed 30 million units by the end of 2012.

According to a report from the Yonhap News Agency, Samsung's IT and mobile unit chief, Shin Jong-kyun, made the prediction during a briefing with reporters at the company's Seoul office. The forecast came just days after the South Korea-based electronics giant announced that it has already sold 20 million Galaxy S III units in just over three months.

Samsung flexed considerable muscle this summer with the Galaxy SIII. The company sold more than 10 million Galaxy S III smartphones, and more than 10 million Galaxy Note phones during the second quarter, shipping nearly twice as many smartphones as Apple.

In August, the Galaxy S III replaced the iPhone 4S as the top-selling smartphone in the United States, Canaccord Genuity analysts wrote in a Sept. 3 report.

In May and June, the iPhone 4S was the top-selling device at AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint. On June 21 the Galaxy S III became available in the United States, and by July, it was sharing the title with Apple, leading sales at T-Mobile (which doesn't offer an iPhone) and Verizon while the iPhone continued to dominate at AT&T and Sprint.

In August, the iPhone 4S held on only at AT&T, with the Galaxy S III as the carrier's second-best-selling phone, while the Galaxy S III dominated at Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. At Verizon, the iPhone 4S was even outsold by the Motorola Razr Maxx, also priced at $199.

Canaccord analysts fully expect a strong Apple comeback by the next sales report.

"Our checks indicated strong consumer interest in and likely demand for the iPhone 5, and we believe Apple will return to strong No. 1 smartphone share in the U.S. post the iPhone 5 launch," according to the report.

According to Canaccord the Galaxy SIII will continue to dominate through September. Once the iPhone 5 launches, the report noted, "we anticipate Samsung will continue to dominate Android smartphone sales but lose share to Apple during [the fourth quarter of 2012]."

Samsung galaxy SIII specs

OS:

Android (4.1.1, 4.0.4) TouchWiz UX UI

Dimensions:

5.38 x 2.78 x 0.34 (136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 mm)

Weight:

4.69 oz (133 g), the average is 4.1 oz (116 g)

Display

Physical size:

4.80 inches

Resolution:

720 x 1280 pixels

Pixel density:

306 ppi

Technology:

Super AMOLED

Colors:

16 777 216

Touch-screen:

Capacitive, Multi-touch

Features:

Light sensor, Proximity sensor, Scratch-resistant glass

Battery 

Talk time:

22.50 hours, the average is 8 h (487 min)

Stand-by time:

34.6 days (830 hours), the average is 19 days (467 h)

Talk time (3G):

11.60 hours, the average is 7 h (420 min)

Stand-by time (3G):

32.1 days (770 hours), the average is 21 days (506 h)

Capacity:

2100 mAh

Hardware

System chip:

Samsung Exynos 4 (4412)

Processor:

Quad core, 1400 MHz, ARM Cortex-A9

Graphics processor:

ARM Mali-400/MP4

System memory:

1024 MB RAM

Built-in storage:

32 GB

Storage expansion:

microSD, microSDHC, microSDXC up to 64 GB

Camera

Rear-facing camera:

8 megapixels

Flash:

LED

Aperture size:

F2.6

Features:

Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), CMOS image sensor, Auto focus, Face detection, Exposure compensation, ISO control, White balance presets, Burst mode, Geo tagging, High Dynamic Range mode (HDR), Panorama, Scenes, Effects, Self-timer

Video:

1920x1080 (1080p HD) (30 fps)

Features:

Video calling, Digital image stabilization

Front-facing camera:

1.9 megapixels

Technology

GSM:

850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz

UMTS:

850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz

Data:

HSDPA+ (4G) 21.1 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS

Positioning:

GPS, A-GPS, Glonass

Navigation:

Turn-by-turn navigation, Voice navigation, Points of interest (POI)

Connectivity

Bluetooth:

4.0

Wi-Fi:

802.11 a, b, g, n, n 5GHz

Mobile hotspot:

Yes

USB:

USB 2.0

Connector:

microUSB

Features:

USB Host, USB charging

HDMI:

via microUSB

Other:

NFC, DLNA, MHL, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync